Author: empower

Each month we will pose a question to our featured ‘professor’. We welcome questions from our readers. Send in your questions!

Featured Teacher: Henry Neufeld, BA and MA degrees in Biblical Languages, owner and editor of Energion Publications, written or co-authored ten books, including What’s in a Version?, When People Speak for God, Participatory Study Guide Series: Hebrews and Revelation.
We often say we would like to be a part of an Acts 2 church. With your Biblical languages background would you look at Acts 2 and give us some of the points that would honestly describe an Acts 2 church?
There are a few passages in the Bible that are paradigmatic for the church. In terms of the nature of the church, I would cite Acts 2 (or perhaps 2-5), 1 Corinthians 12-14, and Revelation 1-3 (the letters to the seven churches). The Sermon on the Mount provides the key outline of what the Christian life is to be about.
I don’t mean to suggest that these passages can be read in isolation, but rather that understanding them in their context will provide us with the paradigm for what a Christian is to be, and, in turn, what the church is to be.
While my Biblical languages background helps me in understanding the Bible—that’s why I took that particular course of study—in such chapters, the main outlines are generally very clear in almost any English translation. Too frequently, I believe, we dive into such chapters in order to settle more minor points, while we miss the major outline.
For example, I recall going to Acts 2 along with various other passages in Acts in order to discover just what the gift of tongues was to be, and comparing this to 1 Corinthians 14. The problem is that reading 1 Corinthians 14 without also reading 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, or with just that one question in mind, often leads one to miss the actual emphasis of the passage. Similarly, reading Acts 2 looking for the nature and application of the gift of tongues often means we miss the fact that this was kind of the starting gun for the concept of world missions, something that would become clear if we continued to read the book of Acts.
Acts 2 is a very good place, however, to ask just what the most basic nature of the church is to be. It describes the birth of the church. In a very real sense we can think of the church as in gestation through the ministry of Jesus. With Acts 2 it becomes the church and not just a small group of followers. At the same time that Jesus is removed from them the disciples learn that he is still very much present. Note that while they are written by different authors at different times, the concept of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) fits tightly with the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.
So what characteristics describe an Acts 2 church?
I think these are the key ones:

It is a church seeking unity

This theme runs through the chapter, starting with verses 1-4. Being together in one place doesn’t mean that they had no disagreements. Often in seeking unity we also seek absolute uniformity. Love (well defined in 1 Corinthians 13) does not demand that we agree about everything but rather that we learn to work together as a team even when we disagree.
I recall once when I was involved in organizing a city-wide prayer meeting that a young man who had been making calls to churches came to me with a problem. He had called a particular church, but the pastor told him that they saw no reason to participate in a prayer meeting with churches that were “wrong on doctrine.” Under the circumstances there was nothing I could do but tell him to go on to the next church.
I think this “working together in spite of disagreements” is modeled a great deal in the New Testament. At the same time, the church leaders do not abandon doctrine. They discuss and work it out. The paradigmatic chapter for this topic is Acts 15, with the end result that seemed good “to the Holy Spirit and to us.” That is an important line—it seems good to us and the Holy Spirit. If we were willing to get together more often and pray until we can honestly say that something seems good both to us and the Holy Spirit, we might get much further!

It is a church that proclaims

When the Holy Spirit comes on the newborn church, it immediately proclaims. There was no waiting and discussion; they simply got down to the business of proclamation (verses 5-36).
This passage is often the center of debates about the gift of tongues. But let’s skip that controversy and go to the main point. The gift given here introduces a critical theme in the book of Acts, the way in which the gospel spreads from Judea (2-7), Samaria (8), and from there on to the rest of the world. The gift here was for proclamation and was a sign of things to come.

It is a church that makes disciples

Besides it being Peter, the apostle, who makes the first proclamation, but further, those who were converted that day devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles (42).
There are two sides to this leadership. First, the leaders are recognized as those who lead and teach. Second, the leaders spend their time teaching everyone. Now that may sound like a statement of the obvious, but often our modern church leaders are often people who preach on Sunday and do administration. The Acts pattern has everyone in action.
There is no Christian who does not have the call to make disciples.

It is a church that gathers

The newborn church immediately begins gathering to learn and to break bread. They are, in fact, so unified that they hold all their goods in common and take care of one another. There are debates about whether this is the best way for the church to live, in a sort of communism. But that is not the critical issue. The question is whether we trust our fellow church members as our own body enough to share in that fashion. The answer, I believe, is “no” and that means we need to continue in prayer for the unity of the Spirit in the church.
I want to draw attention as well to the breaking of bread. Communion, or the Eucharist, is often reduced to an occasional and perfunctory ritual. In the early church—the earliest church—I believe it was the center of gathering because it symbolized our unity as part of the body of Christ.
I would suggest reading Acts 2 a number of times prayerfully, each time asking, “How can I put this into action in my own church. I think we would all be amazed at what could be accomplished if we let the New Testament give us the principles of our church life.

I remember the first time I heard the song “In the Secret” by Andy Park. It was a whole new concept in worship music. It was a simple song. It didn’t have four verses and a chorus. The music brought the style of what I loved in worldly music into the church. Many people were appalled that we were allowing the world to infect the church.
Then I read how Charles Wesley took bar songs and gave them new lyrics. “O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing” or “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” could have first been sung in a pub! I no longer felt guilty because I tapped my foot, clapped my hands, and even shuffled my feet a bit in church.
Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances. Miriam answered them,

“Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously.

The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.” Exodus 15:20-21 (WEB)

It is Biblical to worship God with our songs. Over the centuries the ‘transportation’ of the worship has evolved in various stringed instruments, percussion, horns, and yes, even our demeanor in the worship. Each step in the evolution has brought with it concerns. Some concerns are well-founded as we, the Church, questioned whether we were influencing the world or the world was influencing Church. Some concerns were based in fear; in a rigidness that did not want to allow change because change is scarey and often unknown. Change upsets the balance of what has always been.
Hillsong United, David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, Charlie Hall, Jesus Culture, Christy Nockels, The Glorious Unseen Have you heard of them? They are some of the Miriam’s, David’s, and the Charles Wesley’s of today. And there are so many more who bring us forward into worship. If you are like me and are not familiar with most of these names and attend a corporate worship that includes unfamiliar songs, before you stomp your foot and complain – stop, look around, and ask God what He thinks. Are there more new people, especially young (under 50) people, coming and staying in your fellowship? Corporate worship is by far the usual ‘front door’ for visitors in the church. If the style of worship or specific songs do not ‘work’ for you, buy yourself some CDs and worship in your car! Is God showing you how to be a ‘grown-up Christian, a leader who thinks of others before him/herself?

Geoffrey D. Lentz is a native of Pensacola, Florida and serves as the associate pastor of First United Methodist Church in his hometown. With a B.A. degree in Psychology from the University of West Florida and a Master of Divinity from Duke University, Rev. Lentz combines his knowledge of ancient church history with creative and innovative worship in his church’s fourth Sunday morning service called ICON. This cutting edge, tradition rich, and Christ centered style of worship is rapidly becoming the example for the future of Christian worship.  He is currently working on a Doctorate of Ministry with a focus on preaching and liturgy through Drew University.
Geoffrey and his wife, Elizabeth (Liz) live in Pensacola with their two children, Luke and Eliza. Geoffrey enjoys the outdoors, reading, music, and Duke University Basketball.  Geoffrey is author of The Gospel According to St. Luke: A Participatory Study Guide and co-author of Learning and Living Scripture: An Introduction to the Participatory Study Method.
The ICON service at your church is said to be “cutting edge, tradition rich, art embracing, and Christ centered”.  Many churches struggle with promoting themselves as relevant in the 21st century and avoiding the pitfall of becoming just another venue for “entertainment”.  How do you take the vision of ICON and bring it and the people to worship?
I believe that the church’s biggest problem today is not that we are not focused enough on making God relevant to humanity, but that we are not focused enough on making humanity relevant to God.  The fascinating thing is that in the postmodern world we live in, authenticity is the most relevant thing of all.    At ICON, we believe that there is no contradiction between being cutting edge and tradition rich.  We use two large high-definition screens and have a progressive rock worship band, but a Christian from any century of Christian history would be comfortable with the order of worship (our order of worship is based on Justin Martyr’s early second century description of the early church worshiping).
The service centers around the celebration of Holy Communion every Sunday.  Practicing the Lord’s Supper provides the congregation with a time to respond to God’s call and be transformed into the body of Christ.  For 2000 years the Lord’s Supper has kept the Lord’s Day Christ-centered.  In a world that tells us everything should be centered around us or around the consumer, we find that being as Christ-centered as possible changes lives and draws in even the ‘unchurched’.  Maybe Jesus was on to something when he said, “seek first the kingdom of heaven and all else shall be added”  (Matthew 6:33). The modern church spends too much time focusing on the perceived needs of people so that often we forget about God.  When we focus first and foremost on the worship of God, we proclaim our belief that what people need most is God in their lives.  Many contemporary services today give people what they want but not what they need. Our goal is to give people what they need and trust God that it (He) is really what they want .

The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.      John 1:14 (WEB)
Emily Capes, Director of Youth Ministries at First United Methodist Church, Pensacola, FL took some time in her busy schedule and to share her heart for the young adults and the ministry to which God has called them.
BSP: As a youth pastor, what is your focus with your group of young people?
EMILY CAPES: My focus is to have a team of adults who grow in their understanding of teenagers and then build one on one relationships with my students. So that they grow to know a God -who is not a product that will take all of their problems away but is a living, moving, existence who will walk with them and talk with them and call them to live a life that is greater than they can even imagine.  We live in a culture where everything is being sold to us in a way that we believe that we will be happy when we buy into the product.  Even Jesus is packaged this way in many ministries.

BSP: You are in a large church so do you find “keeping the focus” more difficult?
EMILY CAPES: I do find that “keeping the focus” is harder in a larger church.  I know that some students have slipped through the cracks because we weren’t able to connect with them because there are so many kids at different functions.  I do try very hard to have as many adults walking alongside of the students to try to be present to as many as possible.
Also, as a larger church – there is an expectation to do things well.  And that means better organized planned activities and programs.  Which means that we have to be incredibly intentional to not miss the individuals in the process.  Organization is not a bad thing but it shouldn’t be the first thing over relationships with students.  Students aren’t always organized.  They need your attention when you feel like you should be “doing” something…
BSP: What tools do you use to reach your young people?
EMILY CAPES: Some of the tools are typical ones – videos, internet, current worship music, games, go to dance recital and sporting events, meet for breakfast or coffee, communicate on Facebook or texting and stay current with the things in their culture.  Other than that – what they really need is people who have the time to be present to them.  It doesn’t really matter what you do or use as long as they know that we are truly interested in them.

BSP: How has the ‘new’ ICON service has reached (or not) the youth?
EMILY CAPES: Our students do use worship music as part of our Sunday evening activities – but I wouldn’t call it a worship “service”.  But I do believe that we worship there – through song and conversation and service to our community.  Many students do come to ICON but I believe that ICON has impacted the youth ministry by bringing in new families with students who are slowly starting to get involved.
BSP: What can we as parents, church leaders, and older adult members of Christ’s Body do to encourage our young adults to “grow up in the admonition of the Lord”?
EMILY CAPES: Honestly, what we as adults need to do is live out our faith alongside of the students’ lives.  So many churches put the young people in another building so they can have their own space to play in, mess up and “do their own thing” – which might seem like a good idea but honestly it removes them from some of the best examples of the Body of Christ.  I believe it would also strengthen the church to involve the students in more aspects of all of the church ministries.  We as adults can also learn from seeing Christ lived out in the teenagers lives as well.

— Iris Lloyd
If you have been following this column, you have come to understand that places are very interesting to us and very important to God. Even places that seem somewhat “secular” may have a meaning to God that, well, we just don’t get. Memphis is a place like that, I believe.

On the outside, Memphis appears to be very worldly. Let’s face it, it is. It is the birthplace of “the blues” and home of Beale Street, Memphis’ answer to Bourbon Street. Did you know that Memphis was once the place that all cotton kingpins came to? Did you know that it was the birthplace of the music of Elvis, and believe it or not, the hotel chain of Holiday Inn? On the outside, not a whole lot of “spiritual” stuff going on there. Or is there?
While visiting on a “drive-through” ride, a day spent at The Cotton Exchange Museum, Sun Recording Studios, Beale Street, and the Gipson Guitar Factory revealed deep roots of racial unrest with a glimmer of hope mixed in. What did all these places have in common? Elvis and the colors black and white. When Elvis’s first record, made at Sun Recording Studio in Memphis, played on the air, it played 14 times in one day—some kind of record back then. The very next day, his savvy agent secured a radio interview for him. His record was playing on black and white stations. No one knew his race—until the interview. The announcer asked him what high school he went to. Living in a period of segregation, Elvis’s answer told the world that he was a white man. But his work of “joining the races through music” had already begun. His agent, Sam Phillips, later went on to found the chain of hotels that have become a staple on the road trips of many Americans–Holiday Inn.

Along Beale Street, one will find blues musicians of all races looking for an opportunity to sing their song and make their mark in the world of a genre of music that has its niche in one of only a few places known for its blues roots. Inside this music, a common thread of suffering and pain unites races and gender. Its roots go all the way back to the early days of slavery. The music itself is rooted in gospel songs written by slaves working in the fields, mostly cotton fields. The cotton they picked was more times than not brought to the Memphis Cotton Exchange to be brokered out around the country. The one room museum in Memphis offers visitors a complete history of the people, music, and events that elevated cotton to a “kingly” status. Elvis was the Grand Marshal at the annual Cotton Parade in his early days at Sun Recording Studios.
If you ever get a chance to visit, do yourself a favor: park, walk, and ride the trolleys that still use overhead wires to navigate through the city. Be sure to stop at Cafe 61 located at 85 South Second Street. The interesting artwork by Lamar Sorrento ordains most of the wall space and offers diners a colorful backdrop to a mouth-watering and varied menu. Add some spice to your meal and order the Crawfish Macaroni & Cheese as your side order–you won’t be sorry!
As summer approaches and the urge to hit the road begins to grow, choose your destination but let Him guide you while you’re there. He’ll turn your trip into an adventure and bring you closer to Him in the process. Your life may even take a new turn in a new direction as you learn to let Him guide you—and after all, isn’t that where The Rubber really Meets the Road?

— Jody Neufeld
But you, beloved, remember the words which have been spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you that “In the last time there will be mockers [scoffers], walking after their own ungodly lusts [agendas].” These are they who cause divisions, and are sensual [fleshly], not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, keep building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Jude 17-21 (WEB, my paraphrase)
Each of us has a “call” or “mission” to fulfill in our lives. It may be something noteworthy by the world as Peter or Paul’s missions were. Or it may be unknown except to the One who put in the call; the only One who matters. Before God formed me, He knew me and had a plan for my life in His Kingdom. (Jeremiah 1)
As a child and teen my life was probably typical of the Midwest in the 60’s. I spent my first eight years of school in a parochial setting. This was an insulated world except it did include people of different races. We went to school and church together. We did not think of each other as “different” and so segregation did not impact my life until later. High school was painful as I felt socially inept and relegated to the “good kids” not the “in crowd”. I fell in and out of love. I had a circle of friends that didn’t stay out too late, didn’t smoke or drink, and went to church every Sunday with their parents.
When I stretched my wings in college, I did smoke, I did drink, and I did not go to church. I was taking my new found independence out for a spin in the Birthplace of the Blues, and managed to graduate without causing any major wrecks in my life.
It was as a wife and mother that I again drifted back into the path that God had laid for me. I went to church because it was one of my husband’s jobs as a choir director. I went on my first mission trip to Costa Rica because it sounded like an adventure and it left my husband in charge of three children for ten days! God turned that self-centered answer to a ‘call’ into a time of teaching: How to Serve the Least of These. I met people of simple ways but of great faith. I returned two more times to Costa Rica, thinking I was ministering but finding out that I was just as much ministered to. My heart was slowly changing and softening.
It was during these years that I became more and more career-successful and struggled with trying to “have it all”. Can you really have it all? Maybe, but only if the priorities are correct. Mine were not. As my life turned to God and I found that life-changing relationship with God, giving myself wholly, no-turning-back to Him, my marriage disintegrated and my children were hurt. It is the worse moment in a parent’s life to see the pain and betrayal in your child’s eyes and know that you are responsible for putting it there. There are always consequences for decisions. The consequence may be immediate or it may grow from a root of a bad choice.
God is faithful. He planted seeds, watered and fertilized my life through all the years. He never gave up that I could walk the path and answer the “call” that He had put into my life. He wanted me to live in the joy and blessings of that “call” all these years but He never stopped opening the door into His vineyard, allowing me to work. (Matthew 20)
Energion Publications is not just a publishing company. It is the ministry to which I am called to work for the One who truly owns it. God opens up opportunities for people to meet and work together in His Kingdom that maybe would not have met each other. Books are written, not by the world-recognized famous, but by souls who have been dipped in the Blood of the Lamb and warmed by His Spirit to transcribe the words He gives to them. And I am a worker in that vineyard. Whether my time in this vineyard is one more day or 30 more years, I am so very blessed to have been allowed to sweat along side the Owner and His called workers.
Is the Owner calling you? Don’t miss the opportunity.

1 Timothy 4 is referenced many times when speaking to the youth. We, in the Church, talk about growing up our young people, but do we really do it? What are your thoughts about this chapter and Paul and Timothy’s example?
The verse that is generally quoted either to or about young people in ministry is verse 12:

Don’t let anyone make fun of you, just because you are young. Set an example for other followers by what you say and do, as well as by your love, faith, and purity. (CEV)

There’s two ways to go wrong in reading this passage. The first is to read it as addressing only the older members of the congregation. Sermons based on this reading generally start by explaining how Paul put Timothy in a leadership position and told him not to let others make fun of him or despise him, so modern church leaders should put more young people in ministry.
The second is to read it as addressing solely the young person. This reading is for sermons explaining to young people how they must step up to the plate when they are placed in a position of leadership. This latter reading pays more attention to the context, particularly the last part of the verse, but it still misses part of what Paul^* is getting at.
To get the message you need to read the whole book of 1 Timothy, but you can get a good deal of the message by just starting at the beginning of chapter 4, where Paul concludes the main portion of the letter. Here we have a warning regarding false teachings that will come. Paul is discussing ministry specifically in terms of how leadership is to deal with it.
Briefly, in verses 1-4, Paul tells us what the problem is, and in 5-10 he basically tells Timothy to keep his focus on ministry. Starting in verse 11 he gets specific about how Timothy personally should respond.
He’s not telling us who should be a leader; he does not question that Timothy is rightfully a leader. He’s interested in how a leader must behave so as to confront false doctrine and bad behavior. In this he starts with how the leader must behave. He is to be an example to the believers.
You might paraphrase the message in this way: “Timothy, you’re a leader, and people might try to despise you because of your age. In order to meet this challenge you need to be above reproach. Your life should be an example to those you lead.”
This isn’t a message that applies only to young people. People might despise your leadership because you’re too old, too young, not from around here, from around here (so you can’t be an expert), or for any of a number of other reasons.
There’s a message here for the people in leadership: Prepare and then commission. In the church we frequently spend years training people, but never let them get out and lead. On the other hand, we are constantly shoving unprepared people into positions of leadership. Sometimes the choice of church leaders involves the least time of prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit, rather than the most. But Paul specifically mentions that Timothy was commissioned because God had spoken (v. 14).
Let me summarize what Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 4 for the church:

1. We need to be preparing people, young and old, for ministry. We have plenty of time with Sunday School classes to train . We need to do it.
2. When we choose leaders we need to pray, listen to the Holy Spirit, and identify the persons God is gifting for a particular position of leadership. Once we identify the gift, we need to learn to ignore all the irrelevant reasons people will find to oppose leadership. In Timothy’s case it was age, but there are many other possible reasons.
3. Once a leader is chosen, he or she is responsible to be an example. If there is to be opposition, let that opposition be unfounded.

*While some scholars maintain that 1 Timothy was written by a disciple after Paul’s death because of the church structure it reflects, amongst other things, I would disagree. I think arguments for dating of New Testament books based on the development of church structures ignore the derivation of early church structures from the synagogue and other structures in the surrounding culture.